De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025) • Hacker News Board

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#301

Post by peder » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #209

legitster wrote: post #175

It's no secret that our current US administration is envious of China. So in no small part they probably want to model the US Dollar after the Renminbi. Drop the value internationally to incentivize American exports, and manipulate the hell out of it. (Hence why they have dropped inflation as a political issue - some in the administration are essentially rooting for inflation to get much, much worse). It should go wi…

Nobody is cheering for inflation to get worse, they are celebrating it being held down to 2.7% after higher inflation a few years ago. The U.S. is a net exporter of oil and food and self-sufficent for majority of its mineral needs as well. There is no need for U.S. to crash its currency to incentivize domestic production, it can just impose tariffs on imports to do so.

Precisely. People in this thread almost seem mad that the economy didn't crash in Trump's first year.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#302

Post by shadowtree » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

avh02 wrote: post #260

chrisco255 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

This is about way more than a few tariffs. Think Venezuela, think madman jizzing over the idea of invading greenland, or just throwing tantrums on an international scale.

But Iraq, Afghanistan, Grenada, Panama, Vietnam ... were not a problem?

Ahistorical BS, I am sorry. As if Trump is a radical departure of NORMS. Euros were chanting HO HO HO CHI MIN in 1968 in the streets of Berlin and Paris.

There is a long tradition of anti-American feelings outside the US, like with any hegemon.

The global left had to build walls to keep their people IN, crush them with tanks, from Prague to Berlin to Beijing. So there is that.

HN turning so left is weird to watch, I guess a reflection of PG's stances and moderation/group votes. Well, money does not give a fig.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#303

Post by JumpCrisscross » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

netbioserror wrote: post #226

touwer wrote: post #51

The US century is already over. It's just that a lot of US citizens don't see that. De-dollarization will happen when one is a traitor to it's allies

There are also many Americans who have always desired de-dollarization, since the dollar has been the foundation of our imperial system and abuses of state power. Say what you will about how dated a gold standard is, but it forces immediate fiscal responsibility upon governments; fiat currencies defer responsibility, turning it into a Sword of Damocles that catastrophically falls upon future generations. You trade ge…

> Say what you will about how dated a gold standard is, but it forces immediate fiscal responsibility upon governments

We were on metal standards for millenia. Governments routinely spent beyond their means, including for imperial aims. This is like four centuries of Roman history.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#304

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:42 PM UTC

munk-a wrote: post #99

mothballed wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 10th amendment limits the federal government to the enumerated powers. So your argument that it "isn't prohibited" isn't how this works. You have to justify it under an enumerated power (which, you might well be able to do, though this is debatable).

I am not a constitutional scholar so a better expert may be able to provide a more sound response but I believe the Commerce Clause is generally accepted to include currency control (and early tests of federalism in the US found that independent state currencies could be restricted by the federal government).

[deleted]

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#305

Post by mullingitover » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:42 PM UTC

selectodude wrote: post #230

parsimo2010 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is part of the same reason many people don't use Bitcoin- you can't actually do much with it because retailers don't accept it. But China is definitely thinking about how to fix that problem, and soon they will make it possible to pay directly in CNY in other countries. Once you can buy things with it, the CNY is attractive from a practical perspective. A lot of your stuff is already manufactured in China, once/…

Paying Chinese companies in RMB isn’t the issue. If I sell something and a Chinese company pays me in RMB, I can’t really do anything with a billion yuan. Can’t buy a company (limitations on foreign ownership), can’t buy property (99-year lease that can be canceled on the whims of the government at any time), can’t buy Chinese debt (terrible yields, very small foreign market access, incredibly opaque laws and account…

> Can’t buy a company (limitations on foreign ownership)

This is quickly going away[1].

[1] https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en/knowledge/publication...

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#306

Post by AbstractH24 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

As they say about bankruptcy. First it happens slowly then quickly.

I suspect were about to see that pivot

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#307

Post by llmslave » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #272

llmslave wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

covid money printing was some of the worst fed decision making in US history. they essentially ruined the housing market, priced out a generation of younger buyers, which is now crushing fertility rates, savings, and more

everyone complains, nobody has alternatives. what would have been the correct actions in that situation? really the government should tax in good times. and spend in bad times. and be a counter weight to private sector

no they literally just kept printing money for no reason

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#308

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

throwaway888666 wrote: post #223

chrisco255 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The U.S. is as stable as it gets. It has been one continuous republic and has 250 years of legal stability and a history of paying its debts. It has 4.2% GDP growth, with the largest economy in the world and growing.

I am pretty sure the US has not 4.2 percent growth Source? I live in the US and I have lived in countries with 4-5 gdp growth

[deleted]

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#309

Post by pessimizer » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

stickfigure wrote: post #166

hintymad wrote: post #135

Honest question: isn't it just a matter of time before US dollar loses its dominance, given that US has been losing its manufacturing business? I mean, can people really keep investing in the US market if they need less and less stuff produced by the US?

Why is manufacturing so special? As opposed to something like software? Also, manufacturing in the US is growing not shrinking. For a long time.

Software can leave your country in a fraction of a second. Manufacturing is infrastructure. This is also basic. Manufacturing in the US is shrinking, comparatively with other countries that actually make things. People just think they can just play with numbers, categories and dollar values to hide it.

The US has been playing a currency game since 1980 to make up for the loss of the free money it got for reconstructing Europe and Japan, and using that money to buy things from impoverished workers in China. And as China got on its feet through careful planning and management, it moved to India, Pakistan, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, anywhere that was willing to stomp on its workers and pollute its air and water.

Now China has gotten to the point that it is a viable alternative to the US, so the US can't unilaterally set terms anymore for its suppliers. It's dumping US treasuries. It's competing for natural resources in countries that the US just tried to topple and steal their natural resources through sieges that ironically served to cut the US's legs from under them, giving China a huge discount. The game is up.

China going from nowhere to the greatest economy on the planet in 50 years is what happens when you manage and cultivate manufacturing. US real estate and an economy run on luxury consumption is what you get when you outsource manufacturing and play word games to cover it up. We literally can't tariff China significantly, they could crush our economy just by embargoing us like we freely embargo everyone else. That's the power of a manufacturing base. We might want to fix our bridges, too.

Re: De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)

#310

Post by JumpCrisscross » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

touwer wrote: post #51

The US century is already over. It's just that a lot of US citizens don't see that. De-dollarization will happen when one is a traitor to it's allies

> US century is already over

Maybe, maybe not. We're currently the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Gerontocratic. Sclerotic. Hyped up on a new mythology. And economically uncompetitive on several levels, with the future (then computers, now elecrification) sweeping past us to our applause.

Unlike the Soviets, however, we can see it happening and debate it. If '26 and '28 change course, the damage will still be done. But the America Empire is still young. And Trump's stupidest policies–the tariffs, fighting the Fed, Greenland and raising a Gestapo–don't have the support of most Americans. That leaves hope for reform through electoral pressure.

It will take work. But it's as incorrect to assume indefinite American hegemony as it is to preëmptively concede the game.